Tenrikyo-Ofudesaki - The Service Of Pondering Deeply
The instruction to "ponder deeply" is one of the primary instructions
given in the Poems as it
is one of the few instructions that appear in all seventeen books of Poems.
To "ponder deeply" means to give serious thought to a subject, question or
problem.
As a "Service" it means to mentally work at getting to the bottom of the most fundamental question. That question is, "what is the original source or cause of all that exists"? In ordinary terms this usually involves starting with a hypothesis or a speculation about what direction to pursue in order to find the ideas that provide an answer or solution to the question or problem. In our interaction with the world it makes sense for us to ask the questions, "what is it"? and "How does it work"?
On the contrary, from the point of view of this teaching "ordinary terms" refers to the various ordinary truths of the world. Ordinary truths of the world are based on ideas, concepts and thoughts that appear in the human imagination. A good case can be made that the human imagination is currently at the pinnacle of evolution. Ordinarily, if everybody who follows and tests the same procedure agrees on the outcome it can be called scientific truth, if there is no agreement it can be called differing "schools of thought" or of differing "belief systems". From the point of view of this teaching all of those "common truths of the world" are fine but they are not the subject of this teaching. On the contrary this teaching shows the way to quickly identify and return to the origin of all thought, the ever present original consciousness that is the true origin of the mind. Without which nothing has never and can never be known.
There is no specialized knowledge or terminology necessary to engage in this Service of Pondering Deeply. We all have a mind and we can all turn our attention inward and reveal the conscious origin of our thought process.
The "service" of pondering deeply seeks to hasten calming our ordinary thought process long enough to be aware of the consciousness that remains; in so doing returning our mind to its original pristine condition so that original state can be embraced as fundamental to our renewed and ongoing self-centered thinking.
ponder over everything from your innermost heart.
